Signal Fire
by DancingDragonBlaze
Summary: REPOSTED. Companion Piece to Machine Gun: The end of the world comes quietly. In the darkness in which there is no hope, one needs a beacon of light to guide them out of despair. One needs a signal fire.


**So I will have you know, I fucking love this one-shot. Like I really, really do. Well, maybe the song it's based off more than the one-shot, but yeaaaaah you get my point. :D**

**Please enjoy! I know I do!**

**EDITED: So, a wonderfully smartass reviewer on the site decided to give me crap about the song lyrics in the original. And, after they gave me crap, about four other people (I'm guessing the smartass's buddies) decided to come give me crap about the song lyrics. Two of them told me they would report the story.**

**Okay, seriously guys? Grow up. Nothing I did was offensive. You might think you're doing a good thing, but in all reality you're just being high-and-mighty little pricks, using the rules to down-trod on people who are merely being passionate. Those like you take great joy in ruining this outlet of creativity for the rest of us.  
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**But you win. I hate the drama people like you cause. So I'm reposting this without the lyrics.**

**For those of you who want the full effect of this, please listen to Signal Fire by Snow Patrol while reading.  
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**One Shot**

**Signal Fire**

The end of the world came quietly.

Street lamps fell, cars smashed against each other, the ground ripped itself asunder. People screamed and buildings toppled, smashing against the wounded earth and falling into endless chasms-

Yet, it was silent.

He stood there, in the middle of it all, staring, unable to hear any of it. He watched as steel impaled flesh, as blood washed concrete. Shrapnel and ruin flew past him, cutting his clothes, his hair. But never harming him. Inside a curious halo of protection, he stood there. Watching the world end.

But he didn't move. With wide, daunting eyes, he watched everything fall apart. The destruction of the world reflected off his huge black orbs. Without breathing a word, he watched a mother and child get smashed beneath falling rubble, watched a husband abandon his wife to die at the hands of a steamroller that had lost its driver.

He was silent. The world was silent. He said nothing.

He could only think of one thing.

_I need you._

_"For the last time, please DO THE DISHES! I always ask you and you never do it! Do you INTENTIONALLY just fucking ignore me?"_

_He had been in a bad mood. Work that day had been shit, his boss had given him crap - he didn't have TIME to deal with this shit-_

_"Naruto, shut the fuck up. I ignore you because you're not worth paying attention to. Now stop bothering me about some fucking china."_

_Then that look - that fucking __**look **__in the other's eyes-_

_Oh fuck Naruto I'm so sorry._

_The blonde had tears in his eyes._

_"Yeah? Well, fine! FUCK YOU TOO THEN!"_

_Naruto flew past him, out the door and down the stairs to the garage. _

_He hadn't called to him. He hadn't called out. Hadn't followed him, hadn't stopped him. Hadn't even moved._

_You fucking idiot._

And now this was happening.

After a few hours, he had gotten the sense to go out and look for the other. The idiot wasn't answering his cellphone, so he was forced to look on foot. He had gotten close to the other's favorite bar when everything just went to _hell_. He stood there, rooted to the concrete, and stared out as the very earth beneath the city seemed to _vanish_.

He closed his eyes.

_I'm sorry. I'm so sorry._

He bit his lip, then called out to the silent world-

"PLEASE SEND ME A SIGN!"

Then, mixed in with the screaming and twisted limbs, he thought he saw yellow hair. An orange shirt.

"Naruto!"

He seemed to move, yanking his heavy roots from the earth as he bolted after the blonde, every step slow and time-consuming and frustrating. Like he was running through tar.

He leaped over a wrecked SUV, looked around. The figure he had seen simply standing there was gone. Panicked, he looked around.

The silence was deafening.

Then, looking up at a half-collapsed building, he thought he saw a yellow mop disappearing onto the rooftop. He leaped forward.

"Naruto!"

Making his way up the fire-escape - nearly falling at least a dozen times because his feet just didn't seem to wanna fucking _move_ - he threw himself onto the roof.

"HEY-!"

He wasn't there. His eyes narrowed, and he felt himself wanting to sob in frustration. Angrily, he rubbed his eyes. Then he closed them and, standing there, alone on the roof, while the sky fell around him, he resigned to the fact that Naruto wasn't there after all.

And maybe that even he was dead. Alone and unmindful of the chaos, he looked out towards the tallest building in the city. One that, interestingly enough, still stood.

_Please, I'll do anything-_

Then, as he watched, a bright burst of orange light shot up from the roof of the building, reaching into the darkened clouds and disappearing from sight.

He felt his heart leap into his throat.

"MY GOD-!"

He felt his heart begin to beat rapidly, and his chest tingled as it began to glow a powerful blue. Crossing his arms over his chest, he felt the power build before he almost couldn't control it, and when it began to fight his grip upon it he threw his head back and his arms out, and he felt a rocket of light shoot up from his chest and up into the sky, vanishing into the black clouds and bursting like a firework, vibrant even in the darkness.

Then, in response, more pillars of light burst forth from people all over the city. Like the father who found his children amidst the chaos, or a daughter who thought she was abandoned only to be saved. Like fireworks, these bullets of joy leaped forth into the disaster, bursting to create a sky so bright it could be day.

_Hope._

His own chest bursting, he jumped forward, blue wings bursting from his back and lifting him up into the sky - a shining icon among the clouds. Others, looking up, saw this joy and their own wings burst from their backs, carrying them up from the dying world.

Landing upon the roof, his wings vanished and he dashed forward. He could see it this time.

Blonde.

"NARUTO!"

He swept the other up in a tight hug, and he almost bawled when he felt the other wrap him up tightly.

"Sasuke."

He pulled away and looked at the other.

"I'm sor-"

Naruto shook his head.

"I don't care," he replied, his eyes sparkling. "You're an idiot."

He smiled. "Yeah, I know."

Naruto reached out and wrapped Sasuke's hand in his. Together, they looked out at the shimmering beings of light that floated into the air as lightning flashed and civilizations fell.

The blonde's grip tightened just a little.

"Do you think we're dreaming?" He asked softly. Sasuke blinked in response, but didn't look at him. The world was silent. Silent except for the blonde and he. They were all that mattered. Everything else was just... so trivial. "Is this really happening? It all seems so..." he thought. "Sudden."

Sasuke blinked again, looking out. For the first time that day, his heart beat steadily, without fear.

"I don't know," he replied. "But I guess that's just how life is." He thought. "Sudden."

Naruto looked at him, and smiled. Sasuke met his gaze, and Naruto pulled him close, resting his chin against Sasuke's forehead.

"So the world ended," he breathed into Sasuke's skin. "And yet..." He looked out over the massacre, where there were still little balls of light shining.

Sasuke, for the first time, looked at him, and raised an eyebrow. "And yet? It hasn't ended _yet_." He looked back out. Thought. "Still in the process of."

Naruto laughed, closed his eyes. He raised his other arm and wrapped Sasuke in a tighter hug.

"The world is ending, he breathed again. "Yet everything is so..." a pause. "Still."

Sasuke, at these words, turned his head to gaze out at the land. He watched as buildings fell, bridges collapsed, and universal order disappeared as steel was swallowed by earth.

Yet everything was silent. Just as it was when it started. He smiled a little.

It was almost surreal.

"Yeah, guess so," he replied. Naruto was warm against him. "Does this mean we're going to die?"

Naruto thought about it for a moment, then laughed.

"Dunno," he replied cheerfully. "But if we are, it better happen soon!" Sasuke raised an eyebrow at him, and he smiled.

"Because I'm not ready to wait forever."

Sasuke, satisfied with this response, turned and continued to watch the earth end, Naruto at his side. And even as the building beneath them finally gave in, and they fell down, down, down... his chest never lost that glow.

That signal fire.

**End One Shot**

**Signal Fire**

**So the song was Signal Fire, by Snow Patrol.**

**One of my all-time favorite bands EVER. Like I got a lyric of theirs tattooed on my back all-time favorite bands ever.**

**I really hoped you liked it! The image I had was more of something of a music video, and this ending result was me translating that mental video to written form. Not how I quite expected it to come out, but I still really like it. :)**

**Please tell me what you think!**

**Ja!**

**DDB**

**EDIT:**

**Are you happy now? Are you fucking happy now? The music is gone. Snow Patrol now has no fucking reason to sue the site because I decided to honor their creativity. THERE.**

**Thank you for ruining this site for me. I'm sure you feel SO good about yourselves.  
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